Gricar sightings still trickling in

BELLEFONTE — Bellefonte police continue to look into information provided by a North Hollywood psychic and check reported sightings of Ray Gricar in their efforts to find the missing district attorney.

According to Officer Darrel Zaccagni, psychic and central Pennsylvania native Carla Baron has talked about several scenes she has "seen" that might be important to the ongoing investigation. Baron and Zaccagni speak several times a week since Baron began helping police and the family several weeks ago.

Gricar was last heard from on April 15, when he called his girlfriend and housemate Patty Fornicola about 11:30 a.m. to say he was driving in the Brush Valley area. She reported him missing about 12 hours later. The red-and-white Mini Cooper Gricar was driving was found the next day in a Lewisburg parking lot.

Two people reported seeing him in Lewisburg April 16; two others reported seeing him in Wilkes-Barre April 18.

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Gricar's county-issued laptop is still missing, and police haven't yet been able to figure out whether it is being used to access the Internet.

"We're working on that," Zaccagni said.

Fornicola is checking Gricar's personal e-mail account for activity as well, Zaccagni said. So far, there has been none.

Police continue to brainstorm with other police departments, and last month met with six district attorneys from around Pennsylvania. The meeting went well, said Clinton County District Attorney Ted McKnight, but few new ideas were offered.

"It was very enlightening. I was very impressed by the Bellefonte Police Department's investigation," he said.

McKnight said he has not changed his opinion that Gricar was killed. "Other scenarios, as each day passes, become more and more outside the realm of possibilities," he said.

Baron has also said that she thinks Gricar was killed and thinks more than one person was involved, Zaccagni said. Among the visions she's had is of some warehouses, although she isn't sure if Gricar was taken there or if the people involved in his disappearance have some connection to them.

Zaccagni said Baron described several other landmarks near the warehouses -- train tracks on a slight incline, a ramp and some pillars, for example. Gricar's first wife, Barbara Gray, is also in contact with Baron and made trips to the Lewisburg area to look for places that are similar to those described by Baron. Using an opinion shared by Baron that Gricar is within 10 or 15 minutes from where the Mini Cooper was parked, Gray found a couple of sites similar to what Baron described and then spoke to police about them, she said.

"All I can say is, 'Here are some things that we found,' " Gray said. "I can't say, 'Yes, we have matches.' "

She and Zaccagni visited several of the sites including, Zaccagni said, one with many of the features Baron described near a group of warehouses in Milton. Police have looked around that area, but found nothing of note.

"I would like to get a cadaver dog out there," Zaccagni said. "But there's just not any physical evidence to get one out there. We don't even know if he was killed."

Calls about possible sightings of the missing district attorney continue to trickle in, including one this week from a restaurant in Michigan. Zaccagni said state police suggested showing people who reported seeing Gricar a photo lineup that includes other people whose appearance is similar, instead of only showing them a photo of Gricar. Police plan to begin to do that, he said.

The Michigan sighting is a long shot, Zaccagni said.

"I'd like it to be (legitimate). But we're coming up on seven weeks, and there's still been no activity" in his bank accounts or on his credit cards, Zaccagni said. "I really don't think he had enough cash to support himself for several weeks."